Do you like peanut butter? Do you like chocolate? Do you like rice crispy bars? If your answers are “yes,” then you have to make these bars. I purchased this awesome cookbook earlier this summer and it’s now one of my favorites. I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of the book. I think these bars turned out pretty awesome. I sent half these bars home with Sara Beth (SB and Marc, if you’re reading this, I hope you liked them!)
Peanut Butter Crispy Bars Makes 9, from the Baked cookbook
For the crispy crust:
1 3/4 cups rice krispies
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons melted butter
For the peanut butter layer:
5 oz milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup creamy peanut butter
For the chocolate layer:
3 oz dark chocolate
1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
4 tablespoons butter
Crust:
Spray a 8×8 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Put the cereal in a bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, stir together 1/4 cup water, the sugar, and corn syrup. Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (235 degrees – use a candy thermometer). Remove from heat, stir in the butter and pour over cereal. Quickly stir together and press into the prepared pan.
Peanut butter layer:
Over a double boiler (place a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water) melt the chocolate and peanut butter together until smooth. Pour over the crust. Put into the refrigerator until firm.
Chocolate layer:
Again over a double boiler, melt the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter, stirring until smooth. Pour over the peanut butter layer.
Place the bars in the refrigerator until the chocolate layer hardens. You may have to let them come to room temperature so that you can cut them into squares and serve.
Apparently I only write about desserts lately! I guess that’s probably because they’re the only things I cook worth writing about. I originally made these cakes for our Valentine’s Day dinner at home this year and made them again tonight. They are so easy to make and are probably one of my favorite desserts I’ve ever made. The cake is rich, but still fluffy, and the raspberry filling makes it really moist. When searching for the original recipe online, I found this recipe that I must try next!
1/2 cup butter (plus more for brushing)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 cup flour
6 oz dark chocolate (recommended: Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chips)
16 raspberries
4 teaspoons raspberry jam
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar (for dusting)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush 4 ramekins or small baking dishes with butter. Dust with cocoa powder. Place ramekins on baking sheet.
Melt the butter and chocolate over low heat in a small saucepan. Once melted, remove from heat and let cool slightly. Meanwhile, mash the raspberries and jam in a small bowl with a fork.
Beat the eggs and sugar at medium-high speed for a few minutes until pale yellow and thick. Add the cooled chocolate and butter mixture. Fold in the flour and salt, leaving no streaks.
Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared ramekins. Add raspberry filling in each, then top with the remaining batter.
Bake for 16 minutes, until tops are cracked and centers still slightly jiggly. Cool for 10 minutes. Invert onto plate. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve with vanilla ice cream and high-quality chocolate sauce (recommended: Guittard brand).
This is a really rich dessert, so you might want to cut small pieces. Or not… it’s up to you.
Here’s my deepest secret: I can’t make pie crust. The last time I tried, which was about 4 years ago, it was a disaster. Ever since then, I’ve been buying the pre-made stuff that you can find in the refrigerated section of the grocery store (near the dinner and cresent rolls). Maybe I’ll try my hand at Pate Brisee again, but don’t hold your breath.
1 pie crust
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (divided)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the pie crust to fit in a 9-inch fluted tart pan. Prick with a fork all over. Bake for about 10 minutes until lightly golden brown. (The original recipe says to blind bake the crust with pie weights, but I don’t have any so I skipped this and it turned out fine.) Toast the pecans on a sheet pan at 350 for about 10 minutes.
Next, make the caramel. Put the sugar, salt, and water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and cook (swirling the pan, not stirring) until the caramel is an amber color. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of the heavy cream, butter, and vanilla. (Be careful: when you add the cream, it will bubble up!)
Stir until smooth. Pour the caramel into the baked crust, and top with the toasted pecans. Refrigerate while you make the ganache.
Put the chocolate in a bowl. Bring the remaining 1 cup of cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Then stir until smooth and pour over the caramel crust.
Refrigerate until set, then serve! Make about 12 servings.
Last weekend, John and I made the trip out to South Carolina for his brother Jim’s wedding. We were only there for the weekend, so we didn’t really get to explore SC much, but the wedding was beautiful.
Does this ever happen to you: you’re traveling, staying in a hotel, and you get cravings for random foods? It happens to me all the time on trips. I tend to crave fruit and veggies because when you travel, you tend to eat all meals out, and most restaurants don’t make a point of serving good fruits and vegetables with meals (well, at least they don’t serve ones that are worth eating). Last summer when we visited Seattle, we were lucky that our hotel sat atop a Whole Foods Market. For breakfast each day, we just went down and were able to purchase fresh fruit and pastries for breakfast.
Anyway, on this trip, we made a stop at Atlanta Bread Company (which was really similar to Panera Bread we have here in MN). They had one shortbread cookie left on display. I really wanted it, but the service was so slow that I didn’t want to go back to the register to get the cookie and chance missing our plane. So, we stopped at Starbucks on the way to the airport, and I was lucky that they had shortbread cookies! However, this cookie did not satisfy my craving. It was pre-packaged, dry and crumbly. Not the kind of cookies I normally enjoy.
So, after arriving home, I just had to make shortbread cookies! These were especially good, moist and flaky (maybe due to the 3/4 pound of butter), and they were dipped in chocolate! Chocolate makes everything better. You might be like me, and hate making cookies that require rolling out, but these are worth it! These cookies sure satisfied my craving!! Make sure you eat them all within a few days, or they will get kind of dry. And if you are concerned about the amount of butter in these cookies, you can just eat one and give away the rest.
3/4 lb butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (chips, or chocolate bar, finely chopped) I use Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add vanilla. Sift together the flour and salt, then add gradually to the butter mixture, mixing until the dough comes together. Shape into a disk shape, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This makes the dough easier to roll out.
Roll the dough out into 1/2 inch thickness, then cut out with cookie cutter. I used a 2 1/2 inch fluted round cookie cutter. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (I always use my Silpat) and bake for about 12 minutes until edges are just barely starting to turn golden brown. If you like soft, not crispy, cookies (like me), take them out before they start to turn golden. Cool on cookie rack completely.
Place chocolate in microwave safe bowl and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until chocolate is just melted. Dip half the cookie in the chocolate, then let harden on the cookie rack or on parchment paper.
I found this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen and just had to try it. Chocolate and caramel: what’s not to love? I have made a recipe similar to this in the past (with a cookie crust), which I will have to write about some other time. I omitted the optional nut topping from the original recipe; I thought that it might be good topped with toasted coconut (think: Girl Scout Samoa cookies).
The original recipe calls for saltine or matzo crackers, but while standing in line at the deli at Kowalski’s, I found some water crackers (Minnesota Flats brand) that looked like they’d be perfect.
About 40 saltine crackers or one package of water crackers
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into a few large pieces
1 cup packed light brown sugar
A big pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup toasted coconut (optional – see below)
1 cup toasted chopped almonds, pecans, walnuts or a nut of your choice (optional)
Extra sea salt for sprinkling (optional)
Line a 11×17 rimmed baking sheet with foil, then top with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread out the crackers into a single layer onto the prepared pan. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar. When the mixture comes to a boil, stir and cook for 3 minutes. Take the mixture off the heat, then add a pinch of sea salt and the vanilla (I used the vanilla my grandma brought me back from Mexico – thanks, Grandma!). Pour the caramel quickly onto the crackers, then spread evenly onto crackers with a spatula. Bake the crackers for 15 minutes (caramel will bubble) and make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. If it starts to brown too quickly, turn the heat down. Once you remove the crackers from the oven, immediately cover with chocolate chips. Let sit for 5 minutes so the chocolate can melt, then spread the chocolate evenly over the caramel. Top with nuts or toasted coconut. Let sit until hardened (or put in refrigerator to speed up the process). Once hardened, break into pieces and enjoy! The crack will keep for a few days.
Toasted Coconut
Spread coconut onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, toss, then bake 5 more minutes, until golden brown and toasty.
